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VETS' COMMISSION TO CALL FOR IMMEDIATE INCREASE
IN
VA COMP OF UP TO 25% -- "Congress should
increase the
compensation rates up to 25 percent as an
interim and baseline
future benefit for loss of quality of life,
pending development
and implementation of quality of life
measures."
The Veterans' Disability Benefits Commission
(VDBC) has started their media blitz.
The long-awaited final report is due out later
today (Wednesday, October 3, 2007).
But, let's not get too excited about the
headlines and the proposed up to 25% increase in VA disability
compensation. That will happen when Starbucks has a 25-cent cup of
coffee.
The VDBC is pushing the "good news" on the
media...and we can assume that all 113 recommendations in the report are
not good news for veterans.
As soon as the report is released, I'll have if
for you here.
And I'll have commentary on the recommendations
as soon as I've read the report.
For complete background information on the
workings of the VDBC, use the VA Watchdog search engine...click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/ses
search.php?q=veterans%27+disa
bility+benefits+commission&op=ph
An early story on the VDBC's report follows.
Story here...
http://www.nytimes
.com/pages/aponline/news/index.html
Story below:
-------------------------
Commission urges higher veterans' disability
benefits to compensate for lost 'quality of life'
By HOPE YEN
WASHINGTON (AP) _ Veterans disability payments should be increased
immediately by up to 25 percent as part of a sweeping overhaul designed
to compensate for a wounded warrior's lost "quality of life," a special
commission recommended Wednesday.
The 2 1/2-year study being released by the Veterans' Disability Benefits
Commission offers the most comprehensive look yet at the ailing
government benefits system that provides millions of injured veterans
with about $30 billion a year in payments.
Tracking the findings of recent reports that detailed flaws in veterans
care, the 13-member congressional commission concluded in its 544-page
report that both the Pentagon and Veterans Affairs Department fall
woefully short in providing adequate mental health care as well as
timely and fair disability payments.
But going a step further, the commission also recommended the immediate
extra payments to injured veterans, many of whom feel they lose out on
benefits because of an overly narrow government focus on earnings losses
or other reasons.
That could offer veterans some stopgap relief as the Bush administration
and Congress consider proposals from an array of task forces and
commissions aimed at fixing an outdated system that critics have long
said was broken. Such changes could take into account new medical
therapies, prosthetics and other effects of war injuries on the daily
functioning of wounded warriors.
"Congress should increase the compensation rates up to 25 percent as an
interim and baseline future benefit for loss of quality of life, pending
development and implementation of quality of life measures," the report
states. "In particular, the measure should take into account the quality
of life and other non-work related effects of severe disabilities on
veterans and family members."
In an interview with The Associated Press, retired Lt. Gen. James Terry
Scott, the commission's chairman, said the disability system needed to
be revamped, expressing his belief that the Army might be seeking to
lowball veterans' disability ratings to avoid paying more benefits.
A key recommendation of the commission seeks to bring more fairness to
the government system by shifting more responsibility to assigning
benefits from the Pentagon to the VA, which tends to rate disabilities
higher, even if it ran the risk of putting additional strains on an
already backlogged VA.
Scott cited a Pentagon policy put in place in the mid-1980s at a time of
budget restraint that calls for consideration of only one disability
when determining benefits, not multiple ones as the VA does. That policy
is still in place today, creating a climate in which Army officials
might consider at least subconsciously cost-saving factors when awarding
benefits, he said.
"We have come up with 113 recommendations — some of them are cheap. Some
are easy. Some are extremely hard and complex. Some of them, there is a
significant bill attached to it," Scott said. "But what we're hoping is
that the Congress carefully looks at all 113."
Among the findings:
—Veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder are in danger of slipping
through the cracks because there is little coordination among agencies
to ensure they get the full range of services from needed medical
treatment to proper compensation and vocational rehabilitation so they
can return to work.
—After initial screenings, the VA often does not follow up soon enough
with re-examinations of veterans with suspected PTSD. The report blamed
in part the VA's struggles to reduce its backlog of disability claims,
which it said was diverting the agency's attention and resources away
from needed PTSD care. The commission called for mandatory
re-examinations for PTSD to gauge treatment and other issues every two
to three years.
—Benefits should be awarded to veterans for any service-related injury,
regardless of whether it was incurred during combat.
—The VA must make better use of technology as a way to reduce its
overwhelming delay of 177 days, on average, in handing out disability
payments.
The commission report comes after the Government Accountability Office
last week found that the Bush administration has yet to find clear
answers to some of the worst problems afflicting wounded warriors, such
as personalized medical care and reducing backlogs in disability pay.
Former VA Secretary Jim Nicholson, who stepped down this week, has said
his successor will have to be creative in solving intractable delays in
payments and improving coordination in care between the Pentagon and VA.
Gordon Mansfield, the VA's deputy secretary, is serving as acting
secretary pending a nomination of a successor by President Bush.
"VA appreciates the efforts of the recent commissions created to find
ways to improve the disability benefits process for eligible veterans,"
VA spokesman Matt Smith said in response to the report. "Our goal is to
help our disabled veterans become whole and continue their lives by
providing them with health care, rehabilitation, as well as disability,
education, and home loan benefits."
———
On the Net:
Veterans' Disability Benefits Commission:
http://www.vetscommission.org/
-------------------------
Larry Scott --
